I want everyone to notice something astounding in the polls and reiterate that writers have nothing to do with it.

Somehow, the collective genius employed on both the Harris and USA Today polls decided after Saturday's action that once-beaten Penn State should be ranked ahead of undefeated Iowa.

How? I don't know. You have to just either not care or not be paying attention. Yet, there is Penn State, having proven absolutely nothing with three wins over tomato cans, still at No. 12 in USA Today and No. 13 in Harris. And there is Iowa a convincing winner over a pretty decent Arizona team that got votes in both polls, not to mention over Penn State on its home field, ranked No. 14 in USA Today and No. 17 in Harris -- four spots behind PSU.

These are the two polls that account for two-thirds of the Bowl Championship Series system rankings that will be released weekly starting in mid-October and determine the national title game combatants.

The active coaches who make up the USA Today poll are notorious for being too busy to be bothered and handing their polls to equally busy sports information directors.

The mostly elderly former college administrators and players who compose most of the Harris roster? I don't know what their excuse is. Most of them have nothing to do all day but watch football and spend time online to see exactly what's going on, compare scores and make educated, rational choices.

Fans of the Houston Cougars can tell you Iowa-Penn State is not the only indecipherable poll logic going on. Houston, you may recall, whipped Oklahoma State on the Cowboys' own field two weeks ago. And on Saturday, the Cougs added a comeback win over another alleged Big 12 heavyweight, the Texas Tech Red Raiders, a team that gave No. 2-ranked Texas all it could handle last week.

So, Houston is unbeaten with two really impressive wins, one on the road at Oklahoma State. Yet, the coaches rank UH at No. 15 and Oklahoma State three spots ahead at No. 12.

If you say, "Well, what difference does it make now? It's not even October yet," I say, hey, it does matter now because where a team is ranked in December is often dependent on how much ground they gain in the polls early in the season.

And, anyway, if the poll choices are this stupid when they should be simple, how can these people be depended upon when the polls matter in December?

The writers' poll is The Associated Press rankings, which are not used in the BCS system. It had Iowa (No. 13) ahead of Penn State (No. 15) and Houston (No. 12) ahead of Oklahoma State (No. 14). At least someone is paying attention. Just not the people who matter.

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